Body of Missing Hunter Recovered in Day County

The body of a 63 year old man was recovered Sunday afternoon about 1:30 from a lake in Day County.

Sheriff Barry Hillestad says the yet unnamed hunter went missing earlier in the week after he didn’t return home from a hunting trip.  The sheriff’s office was able to learn the last location of the man by pinging the missing man’s cell phone Friday evening.  The signal indicated his location being south of Bristol near a public hunting area, but because of darkness a search couldn’t begin until Saturday morning.

The man’s pickup was eventually located during the overnight Friday into Saturday morning.  Hillestad said that search efforts were ramped up during the day Saturday with additional responders that included his office, Game, Fish and Parks, Day and Codington County Search and Rescue teams and Codington County Emergency Management.

The responders used boats, drones and side-scan sonar along with a submersible remote operated vehicle in the search for the man.  Foot searches were also conducted along the northern shoreline of Lake Jessie with most of the effort concentrated in the water.  Dragging operations were also used.  Those operations continued until dusk Saturday.

The search continued Sunday morning with the body of the 63 year old Bristol man recovered at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the water at Lake Jessie.

His name has not been released.